m 



rHOUMND*lMND* 



U 



n 
LI) 



ALEXANDRIA BAY, N.Y 




^■ONTIBlTYT^i: 



LIGHTED WITH ELECTRICITY, 



Elevator and all tbe Modern fmprovefnents 



SEND FOR FREE GUIDE BOOK. 



O. G. STAPLES, 



FROI^RIETOK. 



MEANDERINGS 



AMONG 



A THOUSAND ISLANDS, 



OR AN ACCOUNT OF 



CAPT. VISGER'S DAILY TRIP 



i 



ON THE 



RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 



u 

-^ : I 



/3^o.^^ 



WATERTOAVN. N. Y.: 

TIMES AND REFORMER PRINTING AND rUBLISIIING HOUSE, 

18S2. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In tlie year 1S82, 

IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS 

Washington, D. C. 






> 

«; 
^ 



MEANDEIilNGS AMONG A 

THOUSAND ISLANDS, 



BY THE WANDEREE. 



The St. Lawrence is ji very monarnh of rivers. The rainfalls of 
half a continent, gathered into the largest reservoirs of fresh water 
upon the earth's surface, constitute its sources of supply. The 
course of its stream for more than seyen hundred miles, from Lake 
Ontario to the Gulf, where its vast volume mingles with the Ocean, 
lies between shores, and over soils and rocks whose character 
changes with almost every geological formation known. Scattered 
along its whole length are numerous Islands, whose varied aspects 
and formations, as well as the constantly changing appearance of 
its banks, present every variety of natural scenery to the voyager 
upon the waters. 

That portion of the River which extends from Lake Ontario 
down the course of its stream for about fifty miles and which is 
irregularly filled iip with Islands, of which the entire number is 
probably near two thousand,'^ varying in size from a few feet in 
diameter to many miles in extent, was originally termed by the 
old French and Canadian voyagers 

THE LAKE OF A THOUSAND ISLANDS. 

It has a breadth from Kingston, in Canada, to Cape Vincent, on 
the American shore, the direct line being across Long or Wolfe 
Island, which is also about where the waters, in co. m parlance, 
begin to be designated as " the River," of about ten Tniles, from 



• NOTE ThP number of the Islands Is often asked. TUey are commonly said to be about Eighteen 
hundred Mr. Hough, the historian of several of the countlt^s of Nortliern New York. In a verj^ Inter- 
estlno- and exhaustive work on the Thousand Islands, published In isso. while I notice he does not 
himself vouch for their accuracy, quotes two English writers who visited the Islands about 1822 and 
182(5 as sayinc that the number as ascertained by the commissioners for running the boundary be- 
tween Canada and the I'nited States, was i«92, counting every projecting rock having but a single 
tree Another, aijout the same time, writes that " the number according to tlie latest surveys was 
ITOn " The fact Is that not onlv the limit of what are known as tlie Thousand islands Is very imper- 
fectly defined, and perhaps dllTereutly by different individuals, but tlie actual number Is constantly 
varying from the varying height of the water In different years. 



4 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

wliicli it gradually though irregularly diminishes to less than one 
mile, where a ferry now connects the termini of railroads at the 
Canadian town of Brockville, and the village of Morristown on the 
New York side. It is this portion, perhaps more particularly the 
central and lower part of it, where the Islands are more closely 
disposed, which has come to be designated as the ' ' Thousand 
Islands of the St. Lawrence," and which has long been known and 
celebrated by poets and novelists for its singular and natural 
beauty. The wild forest, intermingled with partial cultivation 
upon its Islands and shores ; the many narrow and tortuous chan- 
nels, land-locked bays, with secluded and sheltered nooks among 
its several clusters, alternated with extensive stretches of open 
water, many of which themselves might well be called lakes, all 
clear and pure as the most transparent crystal, present scenes of 
enchantment, whose beauties are ever changing and never weary- 
ing to the eye of the beholder. 




THE STEAMER ''ISLAND WANDERER." 



It is a region, which, while multitudes have desired to visit, and 
in fact of which many have ^aught partial glimpses in the hasty pas- 



THE ISLAND AVANDEREE. O 

sage of the old St. Lawrence Steamers down the usually navigated 
channels, yet comparatively few have been able entirely to explore. 
The time and expense required to traverse all its multiplied chan- 
nels, and the meager facilities within reach for doing so, have, until 
very recently, effectually concealed many of its most delightful 
views from the observation of the multitudes who desire to see 
them. Within a few years and largely by the efforts of 

CAPT. E. W. YISGER, 

a life-long resident of the vicinity, who has constantly endeavored 
to extend the excursions of his Steam Yachts, many of the more 
interesting and less freqented localities have been brought to the 
delighted vision of thousands who otherwise had never come within 
their reach. 

The very best and most satisfactory view that can possibly be 
obtained, in a short time, of the wonderful beauty here so lavishly 
displayed is undoubtedly to be had in taking an excursion oh one 
of the trips of this Steam Yacht. 

THE "ISLAND WANDERER" 

has been built and arranged with the exiiress puri)ose of affording 
the best facilities for visiting tlie scenery among the Islands. 
While, of course, it is not pretended to pass through every channel 
and to give a view of every Island, or even to embrace the wdiole 
extent of all these several magniiicent clusters, the trip does pre 
sent in its entire compass of about forty miles, and in a general 
view, the more i)roniinent features of the most interesting portions, 
such as is not to be had so satisfactorily in any other way. Nor 
in fact, is it to be obtained at all in any way, except by the employ- 
ment, at large exp)ense of 

PRIYATE YACHTS. 

These from their smaller sizes are able to enter the narrower chan- 
nels, and so to visit the several localities in more particular detail, 
yet from their smaller elevation above the water fail to present the 
more extended panoramas, the views of which are obtained from 
the higher decks of the Wanderer, and very often also they occujiy 
several days in exploring the ground traversed by her in a single 
trip. If one has leisure and means at command, it would un- 
doubtedly be pleasant and interesting, after obtaining the general 



6 THE ISLA]S^D WANDEEEE. 

view of wliicli we have spoken, to visit with smaller boats and 
more particnlarly to explore the narrower channels and more 
seclnded nooks, occasionally taking a Ijass or pickerel for picnic- 
dinner from the well known fishing gronnds of which we catch the 
most delightful though more transient glimpses from the deck of 
the Wanderer. 

We take it for granted that no one who visits these now cele- 
brated Islands will wish to leave them without particiiDating at 
least once (and many go many times without failure of interest) in 
the enjoyment of this excursion, and as it will be regarded by 
many persons as desirable to preserve some memento of so delight- 
ful an experience, this little account of the trip, with some local 
and historical information in regard to prominent places and 
objects of interest which it brings to view has been prepared* 
which in connection with the 

MAP OF THE ROUTE 

and the adjacent portions of the river (of which copies are for sale 
on the boat) will both serve the immediate purj)ose of giving such 
information as is often desired, and afterward of preserving their 
features in the memory of those who have enjoyed the excursion. 

As the boat stops briefly at the principal summer resorts on her 
route among the Islands, the visitor may commence his journey at 
any convenient point. The time table and fares are so arranged 
as to give every one the entire round, and generally if desired to 
stop over a few hours at any of the landings between the trips and 
resume his journey on the return of the boat, all in one day and 
for a single moderate fare. 

The trip piroper, however, commences at the village of 

ALEXANDRIA BAY, 

which seems to be a sort of central headquarters for most of the 
various movements of summer life among the Islands, although 
it is perhaps true that hundreds who have reached only some of 
the upx)er parks suppose (we think however erroneously) that they 
have seen the Thousand Islands, when, in fact, they have never 
yet set eyes on the loveliness which surrounds this most charming 
of all their summer resorts. For the sake, then, of following the 
entire route in regular order, we will make this our 



THE ISLAND WANDEEEK. 7 

STARTING POINT, 

and begin our account with the departure of the boat from her 
dock in front of Cornwall Brothers' stone store. I do not propose 
to give any lengthened description of the village and its famous 
hotels. This is to be found in the Hotel Guide Books, and as this 
little book is supposed to be in the hands of those who either have 
had or will have opportunity to see these for themselves, the la- 
bor of description may well be spared. Of the village itself, it may 
be of some interest to the curious in the local antiquarian history, 
to note that its site was selected so far back as 1804 by a sur- 
veyor for 

JAMES LE EAY DE CHAUMONT. 

This gentleman was the son of a distinguished French nobleman, 
and left the court of France toward the close of the last century 
and settled in this county. Whether or not it was in anticipation 
of the political troubles then brewing, and which a few years later 
eventuated in the bloody scenes of the French revolution, we can- 
not certainly say, but it is a well-known historical fact that then 
and soon afterward there was a very considerable French immigra- 
tion to this and other points contiguous to the St. Lawrence. 
De Chaumont became a proprietor of extensive tracts of land in 
Jefferson county, and it was under his auspices that this town and 
others were first permanently settled. He gave his name and the 
names of various members of his family to many towns 
and villages, among them that of his son Alexander to Alexandria. 
He was long known as a very poj^ular and public-sjpirited citizen, 
who not only encouraged settlement and imj^rovement ui)on his 
own lands, but identified himself with all the interests of the 
country of his temporary adoi)tion, but finally returned to his 
estates in France about 1810. 

Alexandria Bay was chosen as the most feasible locality along 
this part of the river for a 

PORT OF ENTRY 

for a considerable section of the adjacent country, being, in fact, 
the only good harbor easily accessible between Clayton and Mor- 
fistown, a distance of about thirty-four miles. In the very early 
settlement if had a considerable trade in timber and staves, of 
which vast quantities were collected every season in the sheltered 
waters near the village. I have thought of this as the probabl.e 



8 THE ISLAN^D WAIS-DERER. 

origin of the familiar cognomen by wliich the little settlement has 
been so long known. The place where the principal produce of 
their industry was carried to be sold or bartered was really a 
"bay," probably the lower of two, which together embrace the 
peninsular jDoint and neck upon which the village was first built, 
and which the venerable Chauncey Westcott, Esq., now the oldest 
inhabitant, informs me was the usual place where the timber for 
rafts was chiefiy collected. So short and easy a title naturally 
transferred itself to the whole settlement, and so the village ac- 
quired the sobriquet which it seems destined now to retain. The 
collections of timber in various forms, were annually fioated by 
the merchants who purchased them in large rafts to the Montreal 
market. Later, and in fact up to about twenty years ago, in the 
flourishing days of kike navigation, before the steamboats were 
superseded by the railroads on either side of Lake Ontario, it was 
a iDlace for large shipments of produce from the interior. 

Many thousands of bushels of grain and packages of dairy pro- 
ducts found their way to distant markets over its wharves. The 
cutting and gathering of wood for the supply of the Steamboats 
which navigated the Lake and River was also a very important 
industry, the activity of which for a long period gave winter em- 
ployment to a considerable part of the x)opulation, and enabled 
many to pay for their land. 

But perhaps we are dwelling too long upon these local mem- 
ories of the j)ast, and you will be impatient for the enjoyment 
of the present in the commencement of our promised excursion. 
We will choose the afternoon trip as the one more generally pat- 
ronized from this point, and on fine afternoons, as are most of 
those in summer on the St. Lawrence, it will be a real luxury to 
get away from the hotels and breathe freely the pure ozonic air 
that at this hour is usually fanning the surface of the water to a 
gentle ripple. 

Going on board a few minutes before the hour of starting, we 
may have a brief opportunity to gaze upon the 

PANORAMA OF LIFE AND BEAUTY 

which spreads around us. It may supposed that you have not 
failed to notice the magnificent hotels which are just at hand, the 
two larger, the "Thousand Island House" and the "Crossmon," 
both within a few rods on either side immediately fronting, and 
the well kept grounds extending to the river, and the "St. Law- 



THE ISLAND WAXDEIIER. 



9 



rence,"" somewhat smaller, but still able to accommodate alwut 100 
guests, just opposite us and a block further back. While waiting 
for the boat to start let us take a preliminary view of 

WHAT IS GOING ON ABOUT US. 

The Dock itself presents a busy scene. Lusty porters sweating 
under tli<5 enormous loads of baggage going off in the afternoon 
boats for the railroads at Cape Vincent and Clayton, and parties 
of ladies and gentlemen hurrying to the same destination. Skiffs 
are gaih^ flitting in various directions over the river in front, some 
filled with parties of pleasure rowing about for their own amuse- 
ment ; some intent on preparations for fishing ; some perhaps 
bringing passengers from the Islands in the vicinity, for departure 
by the boats, or perhaps to join the Wanderer in her favorite ex- 
cursion. 

THE MORE DISTANT SURROUNDINGS 

may well also take a moment of our attention. Look right over 
the stern of our boat across the bay below Crossmon's. On the 
rocky point beyond is 







BONNIE CASTLE, 

the beautiful and unique summer residence of Dr. J. G. Holland, 
whose name you will at once recognize as the accomplished and 



10 THE ISLAND WANDEEER. 

talented editor of Scribner' s Magazine, and one of the most cele- 
brated ,of our American literary men — whom not to know some- 
thing of, especially here at Alexandria Bay, for which he has done 
so much, and where he is so loved and honored, were a display of 
ignorance not lightly to be confessed. The Doctor thinks this part 
of the St. Lawrence, if not the most delightful, yet "the sweetest 
spot on earth," and no doubt the high excellence of his literary 
work is largely due to the inspiration of the summer bree'zes which 
for three or four months in the year it gives him so richly to 
enjoy.* In front of Bonnie Castle Ave have 

AN EXTENDED AND MAGNIFICEINT VIEW 

down the channel of the River, which is studded with Islands that 
seem to float like emeralds on a sea of glass. On a few of them are 
small cottages, but they are too distant to be readily distinguished, 
and in fact for the owners of most of them we shall ourselves have 
to refer to the list published in connection with the map. The 
Sunken Rock Light House about half a mile distant, beyond 
which lies an Island of some forty acres in its iDrimitive forest con- 
dition, called Deer Island, and the Canadian Light House about 
four miles distant on the head of a large Island known here as 
" Grenadier," you will not fail to see. A little to the left of these, 
across the channel uf the river, about a mile distant, but still in 
good view, is what is known as 

MANHATTAN ISLAND, 

on which are the tasteful summer residences of Judge James C. 
Spencer, of New York city, and J. L. Hasbrouck. It is the largest 
and central Island of quite a little group which is known as 

* Note. Since the first edition of tills work was printed, Dr. Holland has passed away. He died 
suddenly at his residence In New York city In October, 18S1. His last utterance Is supposed to have 
toeen Inspired with the thought of a projected visit to his place here. to look after some improvements, 
which he had planned and to which he had often referred for some time before.for he loved the Islands 
almost like a child. The expression quoted in the te.Kt Is literally that given In reply to a question of 
the writer whether he did not weary of the St Lawrence—-' It Is to me," he said, " the sweetest spot 
on earth." He then went on to speak of the const \nt, all-winter longing he felt, almost counting the 
davs to the approach of the time when he could escape the weariness, or as he expressed It, the 
" Incessant grind " of the city to this delightful home. Dr. Holland was of course known to the world 
chiefly as one of the most popular of American authors. But here he was best known and appreciat- 
ed simply as a man. a citizen, a Christian and nubile benefactor. At his first visit. In the summer of 
1877. which he spent as a guest at one of the hotels, he decided to make this his summer home, and 
purchased the point upon which Bonnie Castle now stands. He at once put his heart Into all the 
needs of the place, and Identlfled himself with its Interests In every plan for public improvement, 
especinlly in IntelUgence and morality. The successful establishment of a young people's literary 
association, and the e.Ktensive enlargement and adornment of the church at which he and his 
family constantly attended, were some of the results not only of his large-hearted liberality, but 
of his personal attention and effort. He was loved and mourned In Ale.xandria Bay, as few men 
have been anywhere upon so short an acquaintance. A handsome memorial tablet, bearing his 
name, has been placed by the voluntary contributions of the people of the village. In the Ketormed 
Church, whose inscription recites that he was "An earnest and cheerful Christian, our beloved fellow 
worshipper, friend and generous helper In all good things." 



THE ISLAiS^D WANDEREE. 11 

r 

*' Manhattan gronp," some of wliicli are connected by rustic 
bridges, and together are a little paradise. This is the first Island 
on which any one attempted a summer home. 

SETH GREEN, 

now widely known as the lish commissioner of the State of New 
York, built a cottage there, where his family summered, and he 
went a-tishing for two or three seasons, about twenty-five years 
ago, and it is a very probable supposition that here he acquired, 
a X3art at least, of the skill in fish-ology which has since become 
so celebrated and useful. Gflancing still around to the left we get 
a glimpse of a small house on elevated ground, which is on 

DESHLER'S, 

a beautiful Island of about fifteen acres, the property of W, G. 
Deshler, Esq., a banker of Columbus, Ohio, one of the early dis- 
coverers of the beauty of the Thousand Islands, who for many 
years has generally made Alexandria Bay his summer quarters. 
The little cottage is for the accommodation of the man who takes 
care of the Island, Mr. Deshler preferring to remain with his family 
at Crossmon's. Still further to the left, and above Deshler' s, is 

HARTS ISLAND, 

on the highest point of which, the tower and roof of a large and 
handsome cottage show themselves among the oaks which crown 
the summit. It was erected by the Hon. E. K. Hart, of Albion, 
N. Y., about 1873, but has usually for a few summers past been 
occupied by parties from Ogdensburg. Hart's Island is reputed 
as the place where the Irish poet Moore wrote the celebrated Cana- 
dian Boat Song, early in the present century. The tradition has 
this foundation, that the published works of Moore mention it as 
having been written on the St. Lawrence, as also one other of his 
poems, and since this establishes the fact that he visited the 
Islands somewhere, the song is just as likely to have been com- 
posed here as anywhere else, which is probably about all there 
is of it. 

Away past the head of Hart's Island and quite across a larger 
intervening stretch of water on the other side of it, we get a view 
of several cottages in the forest on 



13 THE ISLAND WANDEEEE. 

WESTMINSTER PARK 

which occupies five hundred acres of the lower point of Wells 
Island. You will also notice the long dock built for the use of the 
Park on this side, and some distance back from the shore, the spire 
of Bethune Chapel crowning the high wooded knoll where it shows 
itself among the forest growth. It is a pretty structure, erected 
by the Park Association for the use of its residents and visitors, 
where divine worship is observed in the usage of the Presbyterian 
Church during the visiting season. As oxjportunity will be given 
to call at the Park on our return homeward, a nearer and more 
satisfactory view of the improvements of this magnificent summer 
resort, which are more on the other side, may be had by any one 
desiring to visit them. The next in order of the circuit of the 
X)anorama before us, is a fine summer house erected in 1881 for 
Mrs. LeConte, of Philadeli)hia. It is on 

ISLE IMPERIAL, 

which was formerly not much more than a little cluster of rocks, 
with a few trees on one of them, but having been enlarged by fill- 
ing between and around them, is so finely located in front of the 
hotels and but a few hundred yards distant, as to have become one 
of the most attractive of residences. Next in order is a small cot- 
tage on another small Island called " Maud," not much more than 
the size of a city lot, and the property of Rev. F. B. A. Lewis, of 
Watertown. Miss Bullock, of Adams, owns the cottage perched 
on the cliff almost directly beyond, which is on a high bluff of 
AY ells Island, well named Point Lookout, as it looks out on the 
most magnificent prospect in every direction. On the same Island 
not far above, are to be seen between the smaller Islands, some of 
the buildings of a large dairy farm of five hundred acres at which 
our cottage summer residents find it convenient to be supplied 
with milk during their stay. Nearly between the dairy buildings 
and our position 

FLORENCE ISLAND 

has a small tasty cottage owned by H. S. Chandler, Esq., under- 
stood to be connected with the " New York Independent." 

RYE ISLAND 

immediately above, was cleared of its timber some years since, and 
some cultivation attempted upon it, but the effort to make it pro- 



THE ISLAT^rD WANDERER. 13 

ductive has long since been abandoned, and having partially grown 
wp with young trees, it is a favorite camping ground for parties of 
young x)eople who desire to remain in the vicinity of the village 
and hotels. It is still owned by Messrs, Walton, the original pro- 
prietors of all the Islands in the vicinity, who have declined for 
the present- to dispose of it, though we believe they have had fre- 
quent opportunities to do so at a large price. 

FRIENDLY ISLAND, 

which will be easily distinguished as we pass on up our course, by 
its name conspicuously painted on the steep abattis of rock which 
fronts the channel of the river just above, is owned by some gen- 
tlemen in New York city, who purchased it some years since, as 
was understood for purposes of improvement, which for some 
reason have not been effected. 

In the interval between Rye and Friendly Islands, peeps out 
of the foliage where it is snugly nestled among embowering trees 
an unpretending cottage that you would hardly observe except by 
close insi^ection. It is on 

WELCOME ISLAND, 

a visit to which would charm any one who loves to look out of 
some quiet nook upon the hurry of the busy world, and be himself 
undisturbed by it. It is the property and summer residence of 
Hon. S. G. Pope, of Ogdensburg, whose taste and resources as a 
builder are amply shown in the finest structures, both of simple 
cottages and more elaborate residences, which grace the Islands of 
the vicinity. 

Above Welcome and Friendly Islands, and in full view, are the 
white cottages of 

PULLMAN ISLAND, 

which, although by no means irretentions in its architectural erec- 
tions,' yet from its associations is probably an object of quite as 
general interest as any in the vicinity. It is the property of Geo. 
M. Pullman, Esq. , of Sleeping Car notoriety, whose entertainment 
of General Grant with a large party of friends in the summer of 
1872, has so impressed itself among the notable events of the Islands 
as not soon to be forgotten. 



14 THE ISLAND WAIN^DEREE. 

THE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE U. S. 

a notable event at any time, was especially so as it occurred the 
summer iDreceding the presidential election which gave Gen. Grant 
his second term of office, and was of course a matter of interest 
throughout the country. The political caldron was boiling with 
all the activity incident try a near election, and multitudes of 
patriotic citizens, to say nothing of aspiring politicians, all over 
the country suddenly discovered how exceedingly pleasant, con- 
venient and conducive to health it might be to visit the St. Law- 
rence and go-a-fishing, for what * may easily be conjectured. But 
this visit, whether or not it had anything to do with the next 
presidency, evidently had a great deal to do in directing public 
attention to the Islands as a delightful and accessible summer re- 
sort, and it probably lost none of its natural effect upon the public 
mind from the circumstance that a large party of members of the 
newspaper press, on an excursion from Watertown, where they 
were in attendance on an editorial convention, had been very hand- 
somely entertained at an out door collation on the same Island, 
early the same season. 

There had for some years been a plentiful lack of accommoda- 
tion for any very large number who might desire to spend some 
time at the Islands. This year the lack, greater than ever, was 
demonstrated in a very practical way. As the immediate result, 
plans for new and larger hotels, long before talked of, found active 
promoters with the necessary amount of capital. The next season 
these two immense caravanseries were ready for the reception of 
guests, and since that time Alexandria Bay has been famous. 
Changes and imj^rovements have since been continually going on, 
all looking particularly to the accommodation of the increasing 
thousands who have here annually sought health and recreation. 

But by this time the boat will be starting — we shall soon see 
more evidences of the improvements of which we speak. As we 
pass up the River the first to claim our attention is a very neat 
cottage, or rather two of them, on a little cliff, which emerge 
from their hiding behind Friendly Island on the right. They are on 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 



15 



NOBBY ISLAND, 




NOBBY ISLAND. 



the property of Henry R. 
Heath, of New York city, 
and C. E. Goodwin, of 
Oneida, N. Y., who built 
liere about 1873, and who 
with their many friends 
liave made the Island 
merry with their annual 
gatherings. 

CHERRY ISLAND 

on the left, had a small, 
rough cottage erected uj^on it, as early as 1860, which has been 
variously and irregularly occupied, mainly as a convenient shelter 
for camping parties. In the year 1881 there were two other and 
better cottages built, the first, a large house named "Melrose 
Lodge," by parties from Chicago, socially connected with the 
Pullman's. In fact the wife of A. B. Pullman, Esq., with her 
friend Mrs. G. B. Marsh, are joint owners. The upper and smaller 
cottage is owned by Rev. George Rockwell, now of New York 
city, but best known in this region as for more than twenty years 
the pastor of the Reformed Church, the first organized in Alex- 
andria Bay. 

Nearly opposite this we pase quite near Pullman Island. Just 
above Cherry Island you mark the singular Rock known as Oven 
Island, or as some call it 



16 



THE ISLAND WAJNTDERER. 



"DEVIL'S OVEN," 

which rises out of tlie deep water much in the general form of an 

old fashioned out door 
^ Dutch oven, and to com 
plete the resemblance, has 
a large opening at the 
water level under one side, 
which is said to have been 
one of the hiding places of 
the celebrated Bill John- 
son, who figured largely 
hereabout in the border 
troubles of 1837-38, the 
scene of whose most famous 
exploit we will pass by and 
by. 

Within half a mile above 
the oven, we i^ass on the 
left, four cottages on as 
m a n y d i ff e r ent Islands. 
The first, quite near the 




shore we can only name as 



CUBA, 



owned by W. F. Story, built about 1876, but which has since been 
but irregularly occupied, usually, we believe, by parties renting 
it for the season. 

AVAU WINET 

is the second, said to be so called from the name of an Indian vil- 
lage on Narragansett Island. The cottage was built in 1880 and 
the Island, though small, is nearer the channel, and has not only 
been handsomely improved, but occupied every summ'er by the 
owner, Mr. C. E. Hill, of Chicago, who with a very trim and lively 
little steam yacht of the same name constantly running to and fro, 
plenty of banners by day, and vari-colored lights by night, makes 
things look lively and enjoyable throughout the visiting season. 

H. H. WARNER'S ISLAND, 

the third, is situated nearly in the centre of the channel, so that 
we pass quite near, and get a good view of the improvements. It 



A :*^^^^^ 




WARXEKS ISLAND. 



18 THE ISLAND WANDEPvEE. 

is the property of H. H. Warner, Esq., well known in Rocliester, 
IS". Y., as one of tlie most enterprising, public sj)irited and liberal 
of her ' ' Safe ' ' business men, who was the donor a few years since 
of a well equipped astronomical observatory for the use of that 
€ity. The name also is not likely to be forgotten elsewhere, at 
least not in this vicinity, seeing that his " Safe Tonic Bitters," 
" Safe Kidney and Liver Cure," " Safe Nervine," "Safe Pills," 
" Safe Diabetes Cure," and how many more "Safe" medicines we 
hardly dare to say,are not sparingly advertised, not only in the news- 
papers generally, but hereabout on buildings, fences and other 
convenient sign boards, almost everywhere except on his own 
Island. With no special purpose of adding to the fame of that 
which is alreadj^ so widely celebrated, we can readily concede to 
Mr. Warner both excellent judgment in selecting a Summer home 
in a spot so unusually open to the salubrious breezes of the St. 
Lawrence, and superior taste in adorning it. He has transformed 
what was before rather a barren and rocky Island to a garden of 
beauty and attraction. 

Just above Warner's we pass the twin Islands, Pratt and Cen- 
tennial, on the upper of which Mr. H. Sisson, of Alexandria Bay, 
lias built a little cottage. All along our right, from Pullman's 
Island up, we have been passing near the shore of Wells Island, 
which, though rock bound, and in some places somewhat preci})- 
itous to some fifty or sixty feet in height, is covered generally with 
quite a considerable native forest growth. The whole frontage is 
understood to have been sold not long since by Mr. Sisson to 
parties who contemplate improvement, but whose work has been 
carried no further than a little cleaning up of underbrush, and 
encouraging the proper growths. The range is terminated by a 
miniature "Anthony's nose" of bare rock marked " Louisiana 
Point" purchased a few years since by the Hon. Judge Labatte, 
of New Orleans, while on a visit here, with a purpose of a summer 
home, which was built in 1881. In a little bay immediately above 
are a few acres of smoother land, most of which is very prettily 
shaded, which has been laid out and mapped in small lots and 
designated 

"EMERALD PARK," 

and which are understood to be held for sale by Mr. Sisson, at low 
rates, for the convenience of those who do not desire, or whose 
means do not permit the occupation of an entire Island. 



THE ISLAIfD WANDERER. 19 

Immediately above, and apparently adjoining, was originally a 
low island of a few acres, intersected with marsh, but having been 
improved bj^ digging out tlie marsh, has been separated into a 
cluster of small Islets and called 

SEVEN ISLES. 

These are all covered with a young growth which bids fair to 
become the loveliest of groves, shading all the narrow channels. 
A small cottage, half hid among them, is owned, as in fact is the 
whole cluster, hj Hon. B. Winslow, of Watertown, formerly a 
member of the State senate from this district. 

In Densmore Bay, above, and some distance to the right, Mcln- 
tyre the photograph man, who takes pictures of all the Islands 
and parties who desire them, has a little home cottage and picture 
factory, which he proj^erly enough denominates 

"PHOTO." 

There are also farm houses and farms now on both sides, those 
on the right hand being on Wells Island, the left the main shore, 
but it is hardly necessary to do more than to call your attention to 
the patience and economy necessary to dig a living among these 
rocks. Evidently these shores are not calculated to compete in 
corn and wheat cultivation with the prairies of the west. Never- 
theless these farmers do contrive to live very comfortably, j)rinci- 
pally off the products of the dairy, as what land there is, not 
entirely unfertile, is best adapted for grazing, 

POINT VIVIAN. 

About a mile above Warner's Island on the main, 'is a little 
cluster of twelve or fifteen cottages which will attract attention. 
They have been built mostly by residents of the interior of Jeffer- 
son county, for the convenience of spending a few weeks of the 
warm season on the river. They purchased this wooded point, and 
have built each to please himself, and so form a little neighbor, 
hood where each has an independent home, but yet in the society 
of his friends. 

For the next two or three miles, although the channel is con- 
tracted, in some places to less than half a mile in breadth, and in 
fact has the local name of " the Narrows," yet its deej) and rapid 
flow indicates most forcibly the immensity of this magnificent 
river, especially as we remember that this is in fact only about 



20 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

half or less than half the mighty tide which it. is constantly send- 
ing to the sea. All along the Narrows there are irregnlar branch- 
ing bays on both sides, some of which are hidden behind penin- 
sular points which would only need short canals through their 
isthmus connection with the main to change them to Islands. The 
most beautiful of these, about a mile above Point Vivian, was long 
known as "Page Point," and later as "Grinnell Park," from the 
names of former owners. It is now called 

CENTRAL PARK. 

This embraces some fifty acres, still largely covered with the orig- 
inal forest. This was several years since opened and cleared of 
Its undergrowth, and being perhaps the finest grove in this part of 
the river, became a favorite resort both for pic-nic dinners of fish- 
ermen and for pleasure parties from the surrounding country. It 
is now owned and controlled by the " Central Park Association," 
under whose direction it is being still further improved and opened 
to the public. Some ]3leasant buildings are already erected on the 
shore and among the trees, and others are in process of construc- 
tion. Situated as it is on so narrow a part of the main American 
channel, and surrounded with sheltered bays and high rocky 
points, it bids fair to become one of the pleasant resorts of the river. 
Less than a mile above this a very cozy summer house on a half 
acre Island on the left, called 

CALUMET 

is the property of Rev. Henry R. Waite, formerly U. S. consul in 
Rome, now engaged as superintendent of educational statistics in 
the Census Bureau at Washington, and who generally makes an 
annual visit of a few weeks with family and friends. 

On the main shore in the immediate neighborhood one or two 
small cottages have been recently built, whose ownership we have 
been unable to ascertain. 

COLLINS LANDING, 

only a few hundred yards above, was formerly one of the wooding 
stations for the old American line of steamers on Lake Ontario, 
and also the site of a steam saw mill, whose only relic, a rusty 
cylinder boiler, lies on the shore ornamented with one of Mr. 
Warner's "Safe" signs. 

Shortly above Collins Landing the narroAv channel begins to 
widen, and a number of farm houses, with a factory for Limbera:er 



THE ISLAND AVA^STDERER. 



21 



cheese on the Wells Island side, somewhat vary the landscape. 
While the shore of Wells continues rocky, the farms on the main 
are now more extended and the land generally susceptible of culti- 
vation. About half a mile above the cheese factory on Wells 
Island, is the 







PEEL DOCK 

so called from the destruction of the steamer Sir Robert Peel, a 
well remembered incident of the border troubles of 1837-8, to which 
allusion has already been made. Not to enter at length into the 
history of those troubles, it may be sufficient to say that an abor- 
tive attempt to revolutionize the Canadas, generally known as the 
Patriot war, found many sympathizers and awakened great inter- 
est all along the border. The burning of the American steamer 
Caroline near Niagara by a band of men from Canada, while it 
aroused a general indignation throughout the States, especially 
intensified the excitement here, and produced a feeling difficult to 
repress. Men were enlisted, and organizations effected, under the 
name of " Hunter Lodges," who threatened and in fact attempted 
an invasion of Canada in the interest of those who desired revolu- 
tion. The particulars of the burning of the Peel are thus related 
by Mr. Hough in his history of Jefferson county : 

On the night between the 29th and 30th of May, 1838, the British steamer Sir 
Robert Peel, was plundered and burned at Wells Island, under the following cir- 



22 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

cumstances. * * * * She was on her way from Prescott to Toronto, with nine- 
teen passengers, and had left Brockville in the evening, whicli was dark and rainy, 
and arrived at McDonald's wharf, on the south side of Wells Island, in the town of 
Clayton, at midnight, for the purpose of taking on wood. 

Threats of violence had been intimated, and before the steamer had left Brock- 
ville, it was hinted to one on board that there was danger of an attack, but this 
threat was not regarded. The passengers were asleep in the cabin and the crew had 
been engaged about two hours in taking on Avood, when a company of twenty-two 
men, disguised, and painted like savages, and armed with muskets and bayonets, 
rushed on board, yelling and shouting, "remember the Caroline ! " drove the pas- 
sengers and crew to the shore, allowing but a hasty opportunity for removing a 
small part of the baggage, and toward morning, having cast the boat into the 
stream, to about thirty rods distance, set it on fire. The scene of confusion and 
alarm which this midnight attack occasioned among the passengers can be better 
imagined than described. 

Some of them fled to the shore in their night-clothes, and a considerable portion 
of the baggage was lost. After the boat was fired in seA'eral places, a party includ- 
ing Thomas Scott, a passenger (a surgeon who had staid to dress a wound), got into 
two long boats and started for Abel's Island, four miles from Wells Island, where 
they arrived about sunrise. He stated that there were twenty-two persons besides 
himself and the wounded man. in the two boats. '1 he brigands were known to each 
other by fictitious names, as Tecurasah, Sir William Wallace, Judge Lynde, Capt. 
Crockett, Nelson, Captain Crocker, Bolivar and Admiral Beubo. Several thousand 
dollars in one package, and also smaller sums, Avere taken from the boat and A-arious 
articles of clothing. The only house in the vicinity of the Avharf Avas the wood- 
man's shanty, Avhere the passengers found refuge until fiA'e o'clock in the morning, 
when the Oneida, Captain Smith, came doAvn on her regular trip, and finding the 
distressed situation of the unfortunate persons returned Avith them to Kingston. It 
is said to have been the intention of those who took the Peel, to have captured with 
her aid the steamer Great Britain the next day, and to liaA-e cruised with these 
steamers on the lake, and transport troops a,nd supplies for tlie patriot service. 

The leader of this outrage Avas William, or as he was commonly 
called "Bill Johnson," well known on the border for his bitter 
hatred of the English and Canadian governments, and ready for 
any measure that might aid the so-called "patriot" cause. So 
far from denying, it appears that he rather gloried in the exploit. 
Of course it at once not only awakened the indignation of Canada, 
but aroused our own government to the necessity of guarding the 
frontier and preventing a breach with the Canadian authorities. 
Gov. Marcy, then in the executive chair of New York, himself 
visited Jefferson county and took measures to repress any further 
hostile demonstration. A large reward was offered by our own, 
and a larger by the Canadian executive, for the arrest of the out- 
laws, and the officials of both countries united in the effort for 
their capture, especially of Johnson. It has, however, been hinted 
that the American detail professedly engaged in this service, did 
not lose a great deal of necessary sleep by their watchfulness. 
Johnson was aided, in his hiding among the Islands, by his 
daughter, it is said in a boy' s disguise. As she was then a very 
attractive young woman, a spice of romance for a long time at- 
tached to her adventures, and her fame as the "Queen of the Isles" 
extended through the whole region. The writer met her many 



THE ISLAND AVAI^DERER. 23 

years since at Clayton, where she was married and the mother of 
a family, who, so far as discovered, bore no especial marks of 
ro3^al birth. She is, we believe, now dead, but some of Johnson's 
sons are now living in Clayton. 

Late in the fall he was arrested by the American authorities, 
but escaped, and was re-arrested two or three times, until finally 
the border having become quiet, he returned to Clayton and was 
no more molested. Indeed so far from the American government 
having any continued desire for his i^unishment, he seemed to 
meet with favor, and as probably a good democrat, was appointed 
by the administration of President Pierce, keeper of the light at 
Rock Island, which shines on the very spot where the Peel was 
burned. The explanation is believed to be that he had before 
rendered effectual, though i^erhaps not very reputable service, to 
the U. S. in the war of 1812, when employed as a spy, he had suc- 
ceeded in plundering the British mails of important despatches 
which he brought to the American officers at Sackets Harbor. This 
explanation has at least the color of plausibility, as it is said he was 
apj)ointed by the recommendation of Gen. Scott, who, as an officer 
of the American army, was during the war engaged in the military 
operations then in progress upon the frontier, and probably knew 
all about Johnson's services. 

But to return to the description of our trij). Not far above the 
Peel dock we come to some recent improvements upon a cluster of 
small Islands, and on the shore of Wells, that have incidently 
grown out of the location of the Thousand Island Park, which we 
are now rapidly, approaching. We cannot particularize them all. 
On the small Islands at the left are several summer residences of 
various sizes and pretensions. The nearest, "Frederick Island," 
is owned by a gentleman of that name, a merchant of Carthage, 
N. Y. The second ' ' Occident and Orient, " by a 'N. Y. gentleman,, 
named AVashburn. The third is an expensive house belonging to 
E. N. Robinson, a broker, who has been somewhat noted for large 
oi^erations in AVall street, where it is said he has both made and 
lost sums of money reaching into the millions, very rapidly There 
are some two or three more distant cottages on Islands whose 
names and owners are in the list and map we use. Over back of 
these Islands is a little hamlet known as 

FISHERS LANDING, 

where a very comfortable house called the "Central Hotel" enter- 
tains, in a quiet way, a good many summer guests. On the Wells 



I 



■24 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

Island side we pass some clusters of cottages and one hotel, the 
" Wellesley House," before reaching the Park proper, for the 
names of those owners we again refer to the lists on the map, at 
"Jolly Oaks" and " Waving Branches." As we turn to the right 
to make our landing at the Thousand Island Park, we pass the 
Rock Island Light House, which guards the navigator against sev- 
eral surrounding dangerous rocks, and indicates the proper entry 
from the open water above into the narrower channels we have 
been ascending. Some two or three miles distant across the inter- 
vening stretch of open water above, and nearly in the center of a 
large level Island, a large building somewhat resembling the 
Thousand Island House at Alexandria Bay, looms conspicuously 
into view. It is the Round Island Hotel. 

ROUND ISLAND, 

some 150 acres in extent, is laid out as a park around it. It was 
purchased about two years since and is conducted nominally in 
the interest of the Baptist denomination. It is about two miles 
this side of the village of Clayton, which it hides from our view, 
and being easy of access from the railroad at that point is quite a 
favorite resort for the denomination name and many others. The 
morning trips of the Wanderer now frequently extend to Round 
Island. The approach shows its shores to be rocky, apparently 
of sand-stone formation, and some fifteen or twenty feet in height 
from the water. They are generally bordered by small trees which 
have survived from the original forest. The central part of the 
Island is level or but slightly undulating, and had been for many 
years under cultivation as a farm, but is now laid out as agreat 
lawn, around which is an extended drive, the Hotel being near the 
center. The outer and wooded border is laid out in lots for cot- 
tages, of which there are about thirty, and more in course of erec- 
tion. Some of those fronting the river channel are in excellent 
taste as gems of cottage architecture. 

THOUSAND ISLAND PARK. 

Here the boat makes a stop of several minutes, and we have time 
to land and walk a little about the Park if desired. A small ad- 
mission fee of ten cents is, we believe, charged at the gate. But 
to get a satisfactory view of the Park it would have been better to 
have come up on the morning trip and wait over, as many do, re- 
sumins: the excursion in the afternoon. 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 25 

We need say but a few words of this Park, wliicli 1ms become 
one of the summer institutions of the country, and has already 
been visited by thousands, both from Canada and the U. S. It had 
its beginning in the winter of 1874-5, although by the invitation 
of its projector, Rev. J. F. Dayan, parties of ministers and others, 
chiefly members from the Methodist Episcopal Church, had the 
.autumn before visited various localities of the Islands within a 
radius of several miles for the purpose of selecting a site. The 
ujiper end of Wells Island, on the American side, was finally 
chosen and arrangements informally commenced for its purchase. 
During the winter the ]3rojectors effected an organization, at first 
under the name of the " Thousand Island Camp Meeting Associ- 
tion," of which Dr. E. O. Haven, then Chancellor of Syracuse Uni- 
versity, and afterward one of the Bishops of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church (but since deceased), was President, and Rev. 
J. F. Dayan, secretary and general manager. With considerable 
negotiation and some hesitation in regard to the quantity of land 
needed for the success of the enterprise, they finally purchased 
all the land in the neighborhood then open to sale (about 950 
acres), and employed an engineer to lay it out suitably for the pur- 
poses they intended it to serve. Reserving a strip all around the 
shore, and other grounds for the public uses, a considerable space 
was marked off in avenues and lots, which were ottered for sale 
the following spring. By this time a dock for steamers, and 
various buildings for boarding hall, offices, stores and some lodging 
rooms to be owned and controlled by the association, were in good 
progress. By active effort, and extensive advertising, the project 
sprang into success at once. Lots were immediately and largely 
taken. Provision was made by the. trustees for a series of meet, 
ings at which the ablest speakers on religious and philanthropic 
subjects were to be heard. Soon not only the lots on the Park 
itself, but all tlie desirable shore property near, with the small 
Islands in the near vicinity, advanced largely in price and found 
eager buyers. Thousands became visitors, hundreds purchasers, 
and very many builders, so that there soon arose a considerable 
summer village, perhaps averaging a thousand or fifteen hundred 
inhabitants for two months in the year, and often increased to 
more than double that number on the days of special interest in 
the meetings held. There are now probably more than two hun- 
dred buildings on the grounds, most of which are private cottages. 
Some friction, of course, has occurred in the management, and 
some grumbling at the strictness of regulations made, or believed 



26 THE 'island WAISTDEKER. 

to be necessary for the preservation of good order upon the 
grounds, but on the whole the institution has had a large success. 
It is, however, understood that there has been a change in the 
management, and that still greater effort is to be made for contin- 
uance of growth. A comfortable and commodious hotel, whose 
want has been greatly felt and often expressed by those who were 
dissatisfied with the rather primitive accommodations hitherto pro- 
vided, and who were willing to pay for better, is now to be erected 
and other improvements looking to i^ermanency and comfort. 
Hitherto the whole Park has been practically but a sort of a mam- 
moth out-door hotel, where most of the guests took meals at the 
boarding hall*, but very generally looked for their own lodgings 
in cottages and tents. Still, rooms were to a limited extent i)ro- 
vided in the upi^er lofts of some of the buildings, and at the same 
time, many families lived and had all arrangements for providing 
the table in their own cottage and tent homes. 

Our stay ai the Park is limited to a few minutes, and after re- 
ceiving probably a large addition to the number of her passengers, 
the Wanderer moves on her way. Any further information in 
relation to the Park is, if desired, easily accessible in some of the 
publications issued in its interest, notably in a little book, entitled 
"The Thousand Island Park, its Origin and Progress," Avhich 
may probably be found at the Book Stands, and perhaps also on 
the boat. 

From the Park Dock we move around the upper end of the 
Island, and you will not fail to notice the beautiful situation and 
ornamentation of some of the cottages nearest the river bank, along 
whose rocky but yet beautiful and level plateau shore, we j)ass to 
our next landing which is the 

HUB HOUSE. 

This is a fair sized hotel only a few rods distant from the Park, 
and occupying rather more than the original whole of the Rocky 
Hub on one side of which it is built. A few rods back and above 
we see Grenell's. It is on a small Island, originally a sj)ur, but 
now separated from the larger one above, which is also owned and 
to some extent farmed by Mr. Grrenell, who has resided here for 
many years, giving entertainment to a few guests perhaps in the 
rather primitive style of a country tavern. One or two cottages 
perched on high points of the larger Island may be found on the 
list in connection with our map. 



THE ISLAJID WAISTDEKEE. 27 

Leaving the Hub House the boat swings around to the left to 
pass up the channel between what is marked on our map after the 
old charts as "Stuart," but which has been known as " Jeffers" 
and noAV commonly as Grenell's Island, from the name of the 
owner. 

This constant change of names of Islands is to be regretted 
as leading to great confusion. But it goes rapidly on, especially 
with the smaller Islands, which, with every change of ownership, 
are apt to be baptised with new names to suit the taste of the new- 
owners. But this is not all, nor the worst. Many of the larger 
Islands are given names on the charts published by authority of 
the English and American governments, entirely different from 
those in common use. This has an illustration in the Islands just 
about us. That on the left is named on the English charts 
"Stuart," wdiich was copied on the map in common use and also 
on the xVmerican charts. The early deeds named it "Jeffers," by 
which it seems to have been once generally known. So of the 
Island on our right. It is on the charts, both English and Amer- 
ican, as "Murray," but hereabouts is universally called "Hem- 
lock Island." It is doubtful now if any one living in the vicinity 
should hear of either "Stuart" or "Murray" Island he would 
know what \vas meant. 

Quite a lively controversy arose a few years since as to the 
proper name of " Wells Island." It is marked on the charts 
" Wellesley " and on the map by both names. When the Metho- 
dist people inaugurated the Park, "Wellesley" had never been 
heard of in the vicinity. The publisher of the map, which was 
first issued the same season which opened the Park, and wdiich 
was based on a copy of the old English charts, in this, as in several 
instances, inserted both names. With the names only as given in 
the chart, the map would have been of very little value, for no one 
here knew anything about them. But Avhen the Park began to be 
talked of, some astute Methodist brother discovered that Wesley 
was a contraction of Wellesley, and of course for a Methodist Park 
that would he the right name for the Island, and great efforts were 
made to bring the longer name into use, much to the disgust of 
the older inhabitants. They had received title to their lands as 
being and situate on "Wells Island," and had no notion of giving 
up the title either to farm or Island, especially for a jaw-breaking 
name like that proposed. A good deal of discussion arose in the 
newspapers and otherwise as to the proper designation, but in the 
vicinity and among the residents at least, the new name is no go. 



28 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

I But, say the Park people, "it is the old name, the charts all have 

it, and no chart has the name Wells Island." The facts seem to 
be these ; 

So long ago as the close of the last century, before the Islands 
were finally divided between Canada and the state of New York, 
one William Wells, a resident of Brockville, though it appears a 
native of New Hampshire, was engaged in lumbering upon this 
Island, which he continued for many years, and as is generally the 
case in new countries, it took the name of its first occupant, and 
came to be known, as it always since has been in the neighbor- 
hood, as "Wells Island," and all the deeds of land upon it are 
located by this name. The original patent of the Islands to Elisha 
Camp in 1823, did not mention any of the Islands by name, but 
simply conveyed all the Islands belonging to the state of New 
York, lying between certain designated points on the River, Upon 
a very old map in the possession of Messrs. Cornwall & Walton, of 
Alexandria Bay, which they received with an early purchase of 
lands ujDon Wells Island, and all the other small Islands lying be- 
tween certain defined points, and which is said to have been made 
for the commissioners of the U. S. who run and established the 
boundary line, this is designated " Wells Island." The date of 
the map is lost or omitted, but it is believed to be about 1820.* 

The history and authority of the name "Wellesley" is believad 
to be simply this. About 1817 or 1818 an English officer, Captain 
W. F. W. Owen, R. N., surveyed the River, presumably by the 
authority of the British government, and a chart was made by him 
on which Avere inserted names upon many points which ,with a few 
exceptions, had not been before known or heard of. This is evi- 
dent from the fact that manj^ of them were memorials of the Euro- 
jjean wars, in which the English had recently been engaged. Some 
were adopted from places where important events had transpired, 
others from officers who had become distinguished. Now Captain 
Owen had of course some show of right in giving such names as he 
pleased, so far as the English side of the boundary was concerned, 
but it may be questioned how far it was suitable or in the best 
taste to apj)ly them upon American territory, without regard to 
the commonly used designation of the inhabitants. But he did so 
very extensively, of which this is an example. Wellesley being the 

*NOTE. Tilts map Is entitled, "A map of all the Islands ot the St. Lawrenc^ within the State of 
New York " and Is In two large sheets, evidently made with great care, and each sheet signed, "Wm. 
A. Bird." It is much dilapidated b.y age and use, having been used through several extended law 
suits. It evidently covered originally all the Islands patented to Camp In this part of the River, 
which were those between Morrlstown and tlie most westerly point ot Grindstone Island. 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 29 

family name of the Duke of Wellington, the hero of Waterloo, 
which by the way is commemorated in the immediate vicinity, the 
beautiful and significant name of the " Lake of the Island," as 
applied to the land-bound and secluded sheet which lies, as it 
were, in the bosom of this very Island and is about live-sixths sur- 
rounded by its shores, is on the chart changed to "• Lake Waterloo." 
It is to be regretted that the U. S. officers charged with the Amer- 
ican lake survey, of which the charts of this part have been recent- 
ly published, have in so many instances followed this unauthorized 
Englished nomenclature to the exclusion of names locally much 
better known. "Wells" is and was for years known and used in 
the whole region, while " Wellesley " was never heard of in the 
vicinity till about the time the Thousand Island Park was inaua'u- 
rated, when it was brought into notice by a copy of one of the 
sheets of the English charts, which was borrowed and used by the 
gentlemen interested while engaged in canvassing for the begin- 
nings of their enterprise, and is the same that afterward became 
the foundation for the very little map which has been so much 
used by visitors. But we are for a while about to lose sight of 
AYells Island, and it is a fit time to dismiss this wearisome dis- 
cussion about the name into which we have been led by a desire to 
get the facts fully before the public, which we believe has not be- 
fore been done. 

As we pass up the channel between Grenell's, or Jeffers, or 
Stuart Island, whichever you choose to call it, and Hemlock or 
Murray (you see names are as plenty as the Islands) away to the 
right is the 

CLIFF HOUSE 

another small Summer Hotel, built on a high bluff at the foot of 
the Island last mentioned. It is kept by Mr. E. Garrettson, form- 
erly of the Gflobe Hotel in Syracuse, and in generally well patron- 
ized in the summer by guests from the Central City. Our route 
lies up near enough to the Island to catch a good view of some cot- 
tages along its shore, for the names of whose owners we must again 
refer you to the list before mentioned. Through much of this pas- 
sage the village of Clayton is in full view, being about three miles 
distant, but we soon lose sight of it as we turn short to the right, 
enter a narrow gap between Hemlock and Robbins Islands, and 
emerge into Eel Bay, an expanse of water some three miles in 
diameter, with only a few low Islands, which do not interrupt the 



30 THE ISLAND WANDEKER. 

view quite to the wooded shores of another j)art of Wells Island 
again. Our way lies pretty close along the eastern shore of 

GRINDSTONE 

one of the largest of the Thousand Islands, being about four or five 
miles long by two and a half wide, having on it some 200 inhabi- 
tants, who reside on farms in a fair state of cultivation, and are 
enabled to f arnish a considerable amount of supplies for the con- 
sumption of visitors. Passing around its northerly point, which is 
an immense naked hill, bordered by a forest growth of several 
acres on the side toward Canada, we speedily enter 

CANADIAN WATERS 

which open to our view a great stretch studded with Islands and 
divided into channels in a manner to bewilder any attempt to 
enumerate or arrange them. Hardly any of them seem to be more 
than a few acres in extent. Though generally rocky, they are 
nearly all more or less wooded, even rocks with scarce standing 
room for a man often supporting a tree ov a bush to which he might 
cling in case of shipwreck. Some, however, bear evident witness 
of the destructive ravages of fire, which has often and sadly marred 
their original beauty. It evidently now 

REQUIRES SKILL TO GUIDE THE COURSE OF OUR CRAFT. 

Many channels open in every direction, but only the skilful pilot 
knows in which of them it is safe to venture. Hidden rocks abound. 
Some indeed reveal their position near the surface, when on a very 
fair day, their light brown clouds the deep green of the deeper 
water, but others lie further down, and all the more dangerous, 
l^ecause, although unseen, they are still within reach of our keel. 
But our pilot never hesitates. He only keeps a keen eye on the 
land marks, knowing that in the right channels there is generally 
more than a hundred feet of water between us and the bottom. 
Passing through some five or six miles of such navigation, some- 
times almost shut up in the narrow passages, and again crossing 
wide stretches that are on every side broken and bounded by 
Islands, turning now to the right, and anon to the left as quickly, 
we wind tortuously among the changing channels sometimes with- 
in a few feet of the rocky shore, until finally after a seeming 
exceedingly narrow escape from wreck upon a jutting point, we 
cross a not very wide passage opening eastward to an extensive 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 31 

bay, and make our landing at the Canadian town of Gananoque, of 
whose steeples Ave have for some time caught occasional glimpses 
between the Islands. 

GANANOQUE 

is the nearest Canadian town of any size, to the great body of the 
Thousand Islands. It is nearly opposite and about live miles in a 
direct line from Clayton, and ten or twelve from Alexandria Bay, 
though it revuires a ferriage of nearly double that distance from 
either, on account of the winding passage made necessarj^ by in- 
tervening Islands. It is situated at the mouth of a river bearing 
the same name, which was the original natural discharge for a 
considerable number of small lakes lying some miles to the 
Northward. The Rideau Canal, which joins the St. Lawrence at 
Kingston with the Ottawa, diverts the water from some of them 
for the use of its higher levels, so that the stream is probably not 
so large as it would be if it received all that naturally belonged to 
it. It is, however, still sufficient for moving a considerable amount 
of machinery, which is employed for flouring and saw mills and 
also for various purposes of manufacture, chiefly of nails, agri- 
cultural implements, furniture and various hardware supplies. 
The dam which gives the fall is situated in the village, above which 
the stream is navigable for skiffs, with only one other portage, 
fifteen or twenty miles to some of the lakes which are its sources 
of supply. As these abound with fish and game they are often 
visited by sportsmen from the American side, who report the lakes 
to be of great beauty, and the si)ort' both in hunting and fishing, 
excellent. 

Gananoque has a population of about three thousand inhabi- 
tants, with five churches of different denominations. There are 
several hotels where sportsmen on the river occasionally stop, as 
the fishing in front is said to be the best in the St. Lawrence, but 
there has been no sustained effort to direct attention to it, as a 
place of summer resort, and the sportsmen who frequent its waters 
are mostly in parties from Clayton, Alexandria Bay and other 
places on the American side. The Grand Trunk Railroad passes 
and has a station about two and one-half miles North of the town, 
but the principal business access has hitherto been by the Steam- 
boats navigating Lake Ontario, which call here on the passage up 
or down the river. 



32 ' THE ISLAND WANDEEEE. 

LEi^yiNG GANANOQUE, 

our course is at first over a considerable stretch of open water, 
across which the Gananoque channel, so called, is marked by a 
light house and beacon, known as "Jack Straw." These serve 
both to mark hidden shoals and as a guide for the egress of the 
navigator across, and out of the apparently land-locked sheet of 
water which stretches away on Doth sides. After passing between 
the light and beacon, our boat leaves the usual channel, which we 
can see marked by another light off to the right, and plunges into 
the depth of 

HALSTEAD'S BAY, 

where seemingly there is no way, and which is to all appearances 
completely shut in. When, after passing dangerously near some 
small rocky inlets, we seem within a few rods of landing u|)on a 
low rocky point directly in front, a sudden turn to the right opens 
a straight but.narrow estuary along which we obtain a clear view 
a mile or more directly ahead. What had before appeared in a 
solid mass as a continuous point of the main land, melts into an 
Island cluster, among which, as we progress, we catch giimxDses of 
varied and intricate channels in every direction. From the con- 
tracted channel along which we now sail, other passages open and 
mingle in a labyrinth seemingly almost interminable. Once al- 
most grazing a round rock that rises on our left much in the shape 
of a hay-cock, and not much larger, we almost instinctively listen 
for the shock of the boat striking as she passes. But our course 
is straight on, though in a channel often exceedingly narrow 
but almost as direct as a surveyors line, till finally emerging from 
a strait between two high rocks, where one could easily toss a peb- 
ble to either shore, we enter the more open and usual channel 
where a sharp turn to the left shows us a light house about two 
miles ahead, a wide stretch of water dotted with Islands all about^ 
but no visible opening through the forest covered, rock-bound 
land, which to all api^earance completely blocks the way. Wells 
Island lies at the right, the Canadian main at the left, on both of 
which a few scattered farm houses and fenced fields betoken partial 
cultivation. Just before reaching the light house a little cluster 
of Islands appear on the right, and just past these the shore of 
Wells Island rajjidly recedes, and appears to meet the land from 
below at an exceeding rocky and jjrecipitous ]part near the end of 
a narrow bay. JSTo definite opening is here f isible, in that direc- 
tion, but a reference to the map shows a narrow passage, which is 
really not more than a man's long leaj) across. It is the 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 



33 



INLET TO THE LAKE OF THE ISLAND, 



down which 



water rushes with 










current sufficient to turn a 
mill, which 
might there be 
built with one 
end each in 
Canada andthe 
State of New 
York, and not 
be a very large 
mill either. — 
The magnifi- 
cent cluster in 
front and on 
both s i d e s is 
considered one 
of the finest, if 
not the very 
finest in the St. 

Lawrence. The islands are generally well wooded, and you will think 
them gems of the first water. The entire Canada water at this 
point is not much more than a mile in breadth and gradually con- 
tracts for about one and a half miles, and in that space are about 
eighty Islands, some of which are of considerable size and in partial 
cultivation. They seem as if placed here for the express purpose 
of damming the stream and disputing the passage of the water, 
which howevrr, finds its way in many narrow and intricate passages, 
generally w^itli a rapid current, to the open water below. From 
the broad channel in which we have been sailing, we enter a 
narrow pass of troubled waters, between the beetling ]:)lufl's of "Ash 
Island" and Lyndoe light house, situate on a small Island of not 
more than one\acre. Our way is for a short space between these 
almost perpendicular rocks crowned with forest growth on one 
side, and Islands of the greenest and freshest foliage on the other. 
A little white cottage, the residence of the light keeper, shows 
itself like an apparition and vanishes like magic. We catch. 
glimpses of little spots of beauty which change and are renewed 
like the pictures of a kaleidoscope. A mile of such sailing from 
the light house and the boat swings again to the right and enters 
a narrow strait, whence for a moment she emerges at the end of a 
broad sheet, bounded by Islands which are covered by a forest 



S4 THE ISLAND WANDERER. 

growth of the greenest verdure, but only immediately with another 
sharp turn in the contrary direction to enter with the seething cur- 
rent into another and narrower strait, where you are almost 
startled with the appearance of a little Island right under the bow, 
past which the water is rushing as from a broken mill dam. This 
is the vicinity of the 

FIDDLEK'S ELBOW, 

probably so called from the sudden and rapid turns necessary to 
its navigation, although there is a tradition that on some fine sum- 
mer afternoons, the sweet sounds of a violin have been heard, and 
some keen eyed sight seers have even pretended to discern the ap- 
pearance of an old man with something that looked like a fiddle, 
accomjjanied by a small boy, on a cliff at the head of an Island 
upon which it is known that a light house formerly stood. But 
whether it be the ghost of some departed keeper of the light house, 
or musical genius who may formerly have presided at the rural 
merry-makings of the neighborhood, or a creature of veritable 
flesh and blood, no one, not even Capt. Yisger, seems able to give 
any account. The locality, however, is probably more celebrated 
for its marvelous loveliness than any other portion of the St. Law- 
rence. Its numerous and intricate channels and hidden recesses 
are only known to the most experienced boatmen and fishermen. 
Capt, Visger we perceive has given this particular -part of his tri]3 
the name of the 

LOST CHANNEL. 

What particular private information the Capt. may possess of its 
former navigation is more than we are able to divine. The only 
record of its use, which, after long research, we have discovered is 
in the account of the celebrated voyage of Capt. Jasper Western, 
who must have passed through it in the noted expedition of the 
"Scud," from Oswego, for the relief of the log fort that was 
hidden among the Islands as far back as the time of the Pathfinder 
in the old French war, for the particulars of which, with the ac- 
count of its discovery and capture by a party of Indians under the 
renowned French Captain, Mons. Sanglier, we refer to the most in- 
teresting and romantic histories of the life of Leather-stocking, the 
border scout, written by Mr. Fennimore Cooper. It will be re- 
membered by those familiar with those most veracious chronicles, 
that after the re-capture, which was successfully effected by the 



THE ISLAND WANDEKEK. 35 

skill of the Pathfinder, aided by the prompt reappearance of Capt. 
Western in the "Send," the fort was abandoned and the military 
defences destroyed, as no longer of valne. It is of course to be in- 
ferred that at the same time all knowledge of the proper approaches 
was purposely lost, and we surmise it has never since been discov- 
ered till Capt. Yisger in his zeal for exploration of all the hidden 
recesses of the Islands, for the delectation of his pasengers, search- 
ed it out in his steam yacht the "Wanderer," It is almost certain 
that the block-house fort must have been somewhere in this 
vicinity, from the very sufficient reason that no other is so admii"- 
ably adapted to the x>urpose for which it was built, and no other 
has ever been discovered, and here it is certain that neither the 
French Captain nor even his Indian allies would ever have found 
it but for the rascally treachery of Lieutenant Muir, an English 
officer who accompanied the exj)edition with the real design of 
betraying it to the French, but covered his nefarious purpose with 
the pretense of making love to Mabel Dunham, the pretty daugh- 
ter of the Sergeant in command of the party. It is to be regretted 
that no amount of research has yet discovered the ruins of the 
log fort, or exactly identified the spot where these notable events 
transpired, and it is hereby suggested that a promising field is 
here oj^en for the the labors of amateur antiquarians, where more 
minute researches might be as amply rewarded as were those of 
Jonathan Oldenbuck in his famous explorations of the Kaim of 
Kinprunes.* 

As we emerge from the cluster of the "Fiddler's Elbow" we 
come into view of Grenadier Island Light House, the same seen at 
Alexandria Bay before starting. A few houses and fences are to be 
seen upon the shore of "La Rue," the large Canadian Island at 
the right, but the main, which is now visible on the left, is high and 
in many places i)recipitous. Only a single house with a dock on 
which is piled wood, ready corded, for sale to passing steamers, 
relieves the almost unbroken Avildemess shore. Just below this, 
which isDarling's wharf, the Capt., if the day is sufficiently quiet, 
will let you hear a 

VERY DISTINCT AND DISTANT ECHO 

produced evidently by the return of the sound of his whistle from 
the perpendicular rock just opposite. 

* Note We are most bappy to announce to the sli?lit seeing public, that Captain Visger has 
promised that no pains shall be spared In searching out the precise locality of the ruins above referred 
to, and when found It shall certainly be brought within the route of his steamer, and not only 
distinctly marked on everj- map, but particularly pointed out to everj- passenger who takes the least 
interest in identifying it. 



36 THE ISLAND WANDEEER. 

Along clown tliis usual Canadian channel, past both La Rue 
and Club Islands, some signs are manifest of the cultivation of the 
land in small patches between the rocks on both sides of ns. 
Swinging short around the foot of Club Island, in front of a little 
Canadian hamlet, very ajDpropriately named Rockport, we soon 
leave Canadian waters, and catch a view of several cottages and 
the Hotel on 

AVESTMINSTER PARK, 

at whose dock we make our last landing before returning to Alex- 
andria Bay. The name is at once suggestive of something Presby- 
terian, but we can assure the reader that there is nothing unpleas- 
antly "blue" about this Park. The association was formed princi- 
pally by gentlemen in sympathy with the Presbyterian church, 
but its gates are always freely wide open to every one. The org£iu- 
ization was formerly effected and land purchased in September, 
1877, and during the fall of that year work was commenced in 
clearing and opening avenues through the dense forest growth 
which covered a large part of the grounds. Lots were laid out and 
a considerable number sold in the spring of 1878, at whi cli time a 
hotel was erected and the Park opened to public use. Its growth 
has not been so rapid as that of the Thousand Island Park, having 
lacked the concentration and energy of denominational purpose 
which characterized the other. Whether it is because Presbyteri- 
ans have not the push and energy, and combined effort and shout 
ing power of their Methodist brethren, or because they are natur- 
ally slower and more conservative, we do not pretend to decide. 
Little effort has ever been made here in the way of inaugurating, 
meetings, and bringing noted speakers to draw the crowds, only a 
Sunday school convention for a week having been held in 1879. 
The trustees have rather sought to make it a place where individ- 
uals and families who desire may find and enjoy a quiet home, 
with abundant room to ramble, or ride through the extensive aven- 
ues for which purpose carriages are at hand for those who desire 
to use them. 

The grounds have been opened but just sufficiently to develop 
the possibilities of the future. They afford views of forest and 
water in every conceivable variety, and on the higher points, of 
great extent The growth has been considerable, solid, and of good 
material, but from the great extent of the grounds is not so obvi- 
ous at a single glance as if the improvements were more concentra- 
ted. Some fine cottages and residences have been built, with which 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 37 

lie Park House, generally accommodate a population of several 
lundreds during the summer months. This year several cottages 
lave been built or are in course of construcion on prominent 
)oints, some of which are large and expensive. The trustees have 
arge faith that this is yet to be the Park of the Thousand Islands- 
n its natural features, and the great variety of its surface and 
cenery it is thought by some much to resemble the great Central 
i*ark of New York city, but the large circuit of its water boundary 
.nd the greater height of its eminences, and rocky precipices, with 
he great extent and variety of its natural forest growth, give it the 
Ld vantages of mingled and various views of land, water and foliage 
lowhere else to be seen except among the Thousand Islands of the 
5t. Lawrence. While the boat lies a few minutes at the wharf, we 
nay call at the Park House, stroll about some of the nearest 
Lvenues, and so get a glimpse of some of the cottages embowered 
Lmong the trees, but to fully explore them all, needs a day, or at 
east several hours, when as we walk or ride, each new turn will 
'eveal new and different phases of natural loveliness. 

Leaving the dock at Westminster Park our course is at first 
ilong its northerly shore, a rocky bluff of some forty or fifty feet 
n height, upon whose summit may be seen some elegant resi- 
lences but half hidden in the forest which crowns it. Doubling the 
]!ape at the foot of Wells Island, we turn our prow in the direction 
)f Alexandria Bay, of whose immense hotels, especially the impos- 
ng front and tower of the Thousand Island House, we have at 
ntervals caught sight, since rounding the lower end of Club Island, 
)pposite Rockport. We get a distant view of several fine places 
the eastward, which are on a cluster of small Islands known as 
^the chain,'''' some of which are built upon and improved. The 
inest places are probably those of H. A. Packer, and Robert Pack- 
er, sons of the late Asa Packer, president of the Lehigh A^alley 
R. R. and Coal comj^any, and largely connnected with the Coal and 
[ron interests of Pennsylvania. These gentlemen have expended 
arge sums in building and beautifying their Islands. Among the 
ornamental structures is a very fine Iron bridge joining two of their 
[slands, under which the smaller class of our stern yachts pass 
[reely, and which is reported to have cost not less than five thou- 
sand dollars. 

The view of these places is, however, too distant to be perfectly 
satisfactory, unless as is sometimes the case, when time permits, 
Capt. Visger passes round that way to give his passengers an op- 
portunity for a nearer inspection. In that case also we should 



38 



THE ISLAISTD WANDERER. 



find other and quite extensive improvements in the neighborhood, 
notably on "Summerland,'''the largest Island of this cluster. This, 
which contains about fifteen acres, has been purchased by a com- 
pany of gentlemen mostly from Rochester, 'N. Y., who have 
already erected twelve or fifteen cottages, and more are in contem- 
plation. 

At our right as we pass up, and 



somewhat nigher than the 



"Chain" we get a good view of 






Jf^i 






iJ- 






mm 



FAIRY LAND, 

an Island of some twenty acres, 

on which the Hay dens, father 

and sons, of Columbus, Ohio, 

have made and ^ve constantly 

adding to improvements upon |c; .:,. 

their summer homes, of an ex- 1^ ^ ^ 

tent and variety no whei*e else i^,^^,^ . «, 

surpassed in this vicinity. Three g; f^W 

fine residences front the water, g: 

whose surroundings have been i^^--^-^ ..^^ 

beaiitified with an untiring care, ^^- — '-^^ 

and at an expense which must have already reached far into 
the thousands. Boat houses, yacht houses and other conven- 
iences for the enjoyment of life upon the river, are by the water 
side, while a fine tower for outlook, surmounted by a flag staff, 
crowns the summit, and windmills raise the water from the river 
into tanks, whence it is distributed for irrigating lawns, and the 
supply of every conceivable want. 



THE ISLAND WANDERER. 39 

Our trip now draws to a close. We pass near the foot of an 
Island formerly known here as Steamboat Island, on which for 
several years stood a small hunting and fishing lodge, owned by 
A. E. Hume, Esq., an English gentleman of Ir-isure and si^orting 
taste, who w^as said to have been formerly engaged in business at 
Charleston, S. C, but who for several years almost made his home 
in the vicinity of Alexandria Bay. He called the Island ' 'Planta- 
ganet." But this year (1882) the hunting lodge has given place to 
a more pretentious erection. The Island was sold some months 
since to Judge Donahue, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for w^hom Mr. Pope 
has superintended most extensive and elaborate improvements in 
grading, and erected a large house with all the modem convenien- 
ces, finished^ throughout in a style second in beauty to none, for a 
summer residence of the best class. Judge Donahue has also we 
believe baptized the Island with the new name of St. John's. 

Shortly beyond this we pass quite near enough for a good view 
of "Manhattan," Judge Spencer's elegant summer home, before 
referred to. We obtain a distant view of "Long Branch," owmed 
by Mrs. Clark, of Watertown, who visits and entertains hosts of 
friends here, and nearer, of "Point Marguerite," the summer 
place of E. Anthony, Esq. The latter gentleman has here about 
twenty acres of land lying contiguous to the shore, where he in- 
dulges his taste for country life in directing the cultivation of gar- 
den and grounds. He is however, better known among photo- 
graphic and picture men, as an early discoverer and successful 
operator in photography, and edits a monthly journal devoted to 
it. He probably made some of the tirst, perhaps the very first sun 
pictures ever produced in America. He is now the head of the 
oldest and most extensive house in the country for the supply of 
instruments and materials to that line of art. We pass quite near 
the light house and directly in front of "Bonnie Castle," landing 
in good time, and with an appetite sharpened for supper by the 
bracing and life-giving breezes of the St. Lawrence. 

The trip has given us all a rare and inexj^ensive treat, not soon 
to be forgotten, and we instinctively resolve to repeat it at the first 
favorable opportunity. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Reasons Why Everybody Should Trade at 
GRAND EMPORIUM. 




9i 



1st. They have the largest store in the village and carry the largest stock and great- 
est variety of goods, consisting in part of 

DOMESTIC AND FANCY DRY fiOOlS ! 

Furniture, Hats, Caps, Clothing, Boots and Shoes, Hardware and Ci'ocliery, Drugs, 
Medicines, Paints, Oils, Varnishes, town and country Eeady Mixed Psints. 



on draught from one of Mathews' Best Fountains. Choice Groceries, Provisions, 
Wines, Liquors and Cigars, Confectionery, c&c. , c&c. 



2d. 



They employ only experienced, competent and 



GENTLEMANLY SALESMEN ! 

who will not misrepresent the quality of the goods they sell. 



3d. 



They deem it a pleasure to show their goods and 



COROIALL! INVITE THE PUBLIC TO Cllll UNO SEE THEM, 



4th. They will not be undersold by any other House on the same quality of goods. 

ALEXANDRIA BAY, June, 1882. 

N. B.— They also liave a few Desirable Points and 
Islands for Sale. 



ADVERTISMEENTS. 



CENTENNIAL HALL, 

A. C McINTYRE & CO., 

-A^lexandria Bay, River St. La^vrence. 



New and attractive views of the 1000 Islands, wholesale »nd retail. 

STERSOSCOPIC VIEWS MOUNTED or UNMOUNTED 

Also Vieios varying in size from 4x7 to 16x20. 



PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN TO ORDER. 

Parties desirous of going to the Islands for the purpose of having groups taken 
will be conveyed there and back, free of charge, by steamer Idle Wild. Also 



^m.T 



The leading New York Dailies and Illustrated papers. 



FRUITS AND CONFECTIONERY 

This department will be kept up in a Superior Style to any previous season, 
having increased facilities for the fresh supply of the same. 

(Soods Delivered to Islaiids wbere Parties desire it 



A VARIED ASSORTMENT OF 



ITA^NCY G^OODS! 

Including Bird Fans, Coon Head Chatelines, Rustic Work, «S:c., &c., Rustic 
Garden Chairs, Vases and Baskets, &c., a specialty. 

A. C. McINTYRE, Centennial Hall, 

Alexandria Bay, N, Y. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 




Tickets for Montreal, Quebec, Todousac, Ha Ha Bay, Gulf Ports, Halifax, St. 
Johns, Portland, Boston, White Mountains, Lake Champlain and George, Saratoga, 
New York and all points east and west, sold at 

LOWEST EXCURSION RATES. 

Secure your tickets before taking the steamers and save the difference between 
Local and Excursion Rates. 

OFFICE at STONE STORE STEAME88 LANDING. 

Also AGENTS AMERICAN EXPRESS CO., And Dealers in 

Fishing Tackle, Camp and Island & General Merchandise. 



TIME OF DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL OP BOATS: 

Leave for the East and West, 6. 00 a, m.. 7.30 a. m., 2.10 p. m., 2.45 p. m., 6.30 
p. m. Arrive at Utica 1.50 p, m., and 9.10 p. m.; Albany 4.40 p. m., 12-40 a. m.: 
New York 9.00 p. m., 6.45 a. m.; Saratoga 6.05 p. m. ; Boston 9.20 a. m. ; Syracuse 
1.15 p. m., 9.55 p. m.; Buffalo 7.20 p. m., 8.00 a. m.; Detroit 6.55 a. m., 6.30 p. m.; 
Chicago 7.40 p. m., 6.10 a. m. 

Leave for Montreal at 6.45 a. m., 7.30 a. m. Arrive at Montreal 6. p. m. Leave 
for Ogdensbug 6,30 a. ni., 6.45 a. m. Arrive at Ogdensburg 9.00 a. m., 11.30 a. m. 

Arrive at Alexandria Baj^ from the East and West at 11.30 a. m.,12,45 p.m., 6.30 p, 
m., 7.35 p. m., 10.15 p. m. From Montreal 1.30 p. m., 6.80 p.m. From Ogdens- 
burg 6.30 p. m. 

STEAMER "ISLAND ^WANDERER" 

leaves for a forty mile trip among the Islands at 8.00 a. m. and 2.15 p. m., returning 
at 12.00 m. and 6.00 p. m. 



DISTANCES FROm ALEXANDRIA BAY. 



To Niagara Falls 250 miles 

Montreal 167 " 

Watertown 28 " 

Ottawa 88 " 

White Mountains 267 " 

Portland 494 " 

Saratoga, via Montreal 379 " 



To Oswego 100 miles 

New York, via Montreal . . . 350 

Brockville 24 

Plattsburg via Montreal 249 

Quebec 347 

Albany, via Montreal 417 

Boston, via Portland 647 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



THOUSAND ISLANDS, 



\:e=l ST. i_i.^"v\^r=LE]nsroEi- 



it. Lawrence Hotel, 

FRED D.HOAVELL, Prop., Alexandria Bay, N. \, 



ituated in the immediate centre of Alexandria Bay, surrounded on either side and 
■within a stone's throw of the water. 

The Most Convenient House in the Place, 



ith sufficient capacity to comfortably accommodate 200 Persons. Newly fur 
ished and COMPLETELY RENOVATED in every particular, and supplied with 
1 the MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 



A P A P"n THE confidence inspired by the signal success with which our 
1. vJxV. LlJJ, former efforts have been appreciated, has prompted us to spare 

either time, pains, nor money to add to thfe comfort of those who lend their pa- 
onage. We have, with great expense, newly furnished, papered and painted 
very room throughout, and greatly enlarged ovir dining-room seating capacity, 
^e have the only complete LIVERY and BOARDING STABLES in the ])lace, our 
im is and has been to furnish accommodations equal to any other house in the 
)wn. How well we have succeeded you must be the judges on the occasion of 
our visits. We hope for a fair share of your patronage. 



FERMS, $2.00 PER DAY, $10-00 PER WEEK. 



^ O. Address, ^^^J) J), HOWELL, 

ALEXANDRIA BAY, 

JEFFERSON CO., N. Y. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



CENTEAL PAEK. 



This place of summer resort is located on a peninsula off the main land, midway 

between THOUSAND ISLAND PARK and Alexandria Bay. It is on the 

cool side of the channel and is always 

in the warmest weather. It is believed any person who will visit and look this 
Park over will be satisfied there is no place like it on the river. The Park contains 
some fifty acres or more, nicely shaded, has lately been purchased, and is now owned 
and conducted by the 

"CENTEAL PAEK ASSOCIATION," 

is under the control of no religious denomination, its officers and owners, belong- 
ing to various churches. It is designed not as a religious or semi-religious place of 
resort, but as a place purely for rest and pleasure, during the heated term of the 
year. The Association has caused the Park to be laid out in avenues, public 
grounds and cottage lots. 

A DINING HALL 

has ^been erected and is now being run for the accommodation of guests, visitors 
and cottage owners, who do not desire to be troubled with providing their own 
board at their cottages. Rooms for the accommodation of those who have no cot- 
tages are also provided at Dining Hall and cottages connected therewith. The Park 
is now • 

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 

and all are invited to visit it and enjoy the cool retreat, to look over the lots and 
purchase one or more if they desire. There are over two hundred lots laid out and 
ready for sale, of all kinds, location and prices, besides the Association has reserved 



peculiarly appropriate for picnics, and public gatherings. Any boat that travels the 
river can land its passengers at the wharf at the upper end of the Park. The Park 
is connected with the highway by a good drive, and is of easy access to those de- 
siring to visit it with their own conveyances. For further particulars enquire at 
the Park, or address the officers at Watertown, N. Y. 

W. G. WILLIAMS, HOSELL H. HALL, 

Secretary and Treasurer. President. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Tie if St. Lawrence BMSmer Resort 

THE TERRACE HOUSE, 




LOCATED AT THE 

irvTUEI^AT lOT^AX ■*■ GAMP * GI 

MORRISTOWN, N. Y. 



This New and Elegant Hotel has just been completed, at a large outlay, and is 
now ready to receive visitors for the summer season. The healthy climate of the 
vicinity is specially adapted to invalids. 

The house is first class in all its details — elegantly furnished, unsurpassed cuisine. 

DAILY MAIL FHOM THE EAST & WEST. 

TELEttRAPHIC C0M3IUNICATI0NS WITH ALL POINTS. 

Commanding magnificent view of river and surrounding countiy. Splendid 
fishing and boating along the river. 

Four trains daily via Utica and Black river R. R. Daily communication, via 
steamers Rothesay, Stranger, and Cygnei, with Ogdeusbnrg, Alexandria Bay, 
Rapids of the St. Lawrence «fec. 

RHUS, PER DAY, 12 M I2,5»i KK, $8 AND l\l\ MEALS, 50 ANO J5 CENIS 

SPECIAL MOXTIILY A\l> SEASON RATES. 

E. L. LOCKWOOD Prop. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



HARRINGTON BROTHERS, Proprietors, 

is located at Westminster Park, at the foot of Wells Island, in one 
of the most beautiful spots on the great 

Vast improvements have been made this spring about the Hotel and in its imme- 
diate vicinity, 'i he Hotel has been repapered and repainted, the dining room en- 
larged, and 

■^xj^'jj^^ isTEJ'v^;^ i=loo:m:s 

have been added to the hotels accommodations. A bowling alley has been erected, 
and TWO elegant COLLENDER BILLIARD TABLES have been added for the 




aiiiiiseuient ut the guests. Very rine views of Alexandria Bay, the American and 
Canadian channels, and manj' islands, can be obtained from the cool, shady verandahs 
of this hotel, an advantage which no other hotel on the river enjoys, A neat and 
trim NEW STEAM YACHT has been engaged for the summer by the iwoprietors, 
and parties can charter her for any of their fishing or pleasure excursions. A Boat 
Lively is connected with the hotel, where parties can engage boats by the hour, day or 
"week. We must also speak of the excellent oarsmen who row fishing parties from 
this hotel. A new Ferry Boat plys every half hour between the Park and Alexandria 
Bay. connecting with all the river passenger lines. The dining room will be pre- 
sided over by a large corpe .of gentlemanly waiters, and the cuisine of the hotel wiU 
be of an excellent order. 



Special Terms for tlie Season. 

ADDRESS ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO 

HARRINGTON BROTHERS, 
Westminster Park, 

Alexandria Bay, N. Y. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Westminster Park. 



This favorite resort was established under the auspices of the 
Presbyterian church, with the object of affording 

A ^ W&AltRmi * SUMMEE ^ ABDBB, 

which would be free from the usual temptations so common at 
fashionable watering places, and it has thus far proved a success, 
being 

LARGELY PATRONIZED 

"by Presbyterian families and others of like taste and culture. 

Its natural advantages are unsurpassed, if equaled, by any 
other point upon the St. Lawrence. It contains some of the 

FFMEST mmm mi the mm, 

and has the most diversified and healthful surface and water front. 

The Association have still unsold many 



for the erection of cottages and have placed the sale of these lots in 
the hands of Dr. J. C. Grallup, who resides upon the Park. The 
title given is a warranty deed. 



is finely located upon the grounds, and its advertisement will be 
found upon another page. 

G. R. HAN FORD, CHAS. McKINNEY. 

Secretary. President. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 

BUY ¥OIIffi e®©»S AT 

J. F. THOJVTSON'S, 

Where you alivays find a choice variety of • 

GBOCEllESJOOTS&SHOESIATS&CAPS 

Fishing Tackle, Sporting Goods, Guns, Revolvers, &c. 

ALSO k FULL LINE OF CROCKERY. 

Prices always to suit the times and at rock bottom. 

Alexandria Bay, N. Y. 



^ 




THOXJ8A.ND ISLA.Nr)S. 

G. t. DAVIS, Sup't, Clayton, N. Y. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



GJ-.^.M^RSDEN'S 



e| ^*i 



)) 



Is loliere you can get the biggest and best dish of 



^ 



TO ALL WHO WAyr THE 



,3$^ 



FRESHEST CONFECTIONERIES AND FRUITS 

Must go to CEDAR HALL. 
It is the marl for .ill kinds of VEGETABLES. Our CHOICE 

CIOAMS AKB TOBACC© 

of themselves are evidence of their superior quality for the money. 

LDSCHES ON THE EOEOPEM PLAN ! 

Can be had at all lioiirs. Also 

BREAD. BISCUIT. CAKES, Etc., Etc. 

Can ))e had. fresh every day at 

MAESDEN'S BAKERY. 

Come and test for yourself the worth of all onr or.ods. 

fill SIZES OF TENTS RENTEO' fJ REASONABLE RATES ! 

G. A. MARSDEN, 

Alexandria Bay, N. Y. 



' ADVERTISEMENTS. 

THE OLD AND RELIABLE LINE, 




CO. 

Claftof], Rouod Island aod Tlioysand Island Park, Hiexandna Baf & Mootd 



THE ONLY LINE RUNNING THROUGH BOATS BETWEEN 




-?'^ 






-^- fei:i^-r^»i">.^=i=55^ 



, J^5 








THE 0NLY:LINE MAKING IMMEDIATE CONNECTION 

With Steamers at Montreal for Quebec, and all routes for the 

White Mountains, Portland, Boston, Saratoga, New York 

and the South. 

NO OTf][R UN[ cm CHECyilGGllG[ THROOfifl to OESTINATIOII 

By this, avoiding inconvenience of examination by Custom House 

officers at Montreal. 

Through the Lakesof the Thousand Islands & down the Rapids by Daylight 

All the rapids are run under the guidance of old and experienced pilots, includ- 
ing the world famous Indian "BAPTISTE." 



L,eave CLAYTON .......... 6.15 A. M. 

ROUND ISLAND PARK 6.25 " 

THOUSAND ISLAND PARK 6.35 

ALEXANDRIA BAY - - 7.00 " 

Arrive MONTREAL 6.00 P. M. 



By an arrangement with the CiRAND TRUNK RAILWAY, Tourists and others can procure "OP- 
TIONAL TICKETS," enabling the holder to travel by STEAMER or RAIL for a whole or a portion 
of the route, thus obviating the necessity of deciding as to the conveyance before starting, 

JAS. STEPHENSON, ALEX. MILLOY, 

G. P. Ag't. Grand Trunk R'y. Trav. Mang. R. 8i O. Nav. Co. 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



OF THE POPULAR & PALACE DAY STEAMERS OF THE 

ST. LAWRENCE STEAMBOAT COMP'Y 








Prom Clayton, Alexandria Bay, Owdens'ourgli. Massena Springs, to Montreal and all noted resorts 
in Canada and New England. Kxcursion Tickets at Lowest Rates. 

•THE NEW AMERICAN LINE," will run as follows : 

Leave NIAGARA FALLS daily, except j Leave CLAYTON daily, except 

Saturday 7.10 p. no. .Sunday G.OO a. m 

Arrive CLAYTON ! . .5.45 a. m. | " ALEX. B.\Y, 6.45 " 

Leave CLAYTON daily, except Sun- I " OGDENSBURG, 9.15 " 

day 6.00 " " MASSEN.V LDG., 11.00 " 

I Arrive MONTRE.AL 6.00p. m. 

PASSING THOUSAND ISLANDS, AND SHOOTING THE RAPIDS BY DAYLIGHT. 

BAGGAGE CHECKED THROUGH BY THIS LINE. 

CORNWALL BROS., Agts., Alexandria Bay. C. C. MERRIMAN, .Agt . Otrdensburg, N. Y. 

GEO. L. DAVIS, Agt., Round Island Park. Thousand Island Park Association, 

Ag^tH., Thousan<l Island Park. 

HARRY A. CALLAN, Pass. Agent. Niagara Falls. G. LEVE, General Passenger Agent. 
R. G. LUNT, General Manager, General OflBces, 181 St. James St.. Montreal 



m 



